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| Excerpted from Digital Photography Just The Steps For Dummies* | |
Creating a family history isn't just a project, it's an obligation to future generations. An important component of such a history is a digital album, including pictures of as many family members as you have, old and new. Few of us have pictures of our ancestors dating further than the early twentieth century, but some people are fortunate to have very early photographs of their ancestors during the American Civil War and beyond. Why not scan and preserve these pictures – and distribute them as digital family albums for everyone in the family to treasure?
Gathering the images
As all families are made up of other families, begin with one particular line – for example, your maternal grandmother's family (her parents, brothers, sisters, spouse, her children, their spouses, their children, their spouses. . . ). Then you can progress to your maternal grandfather's family, and so on. (This project could keep you busy for a loooong time and makes a great retirement project!)
- Write a list of living relatives and contact them for photographs.
- Create a form letter on your word processor to be sent to everyone on your list.
- Outline your project, including the family line you're focusing on, and ask for the specific images of people, houses, and documents that you're looking for.
- Send your relative a mailer and postage.
- When you locate and organize old family photographs with as much identifying information as you have, create an archival file.
- List the locations of family homes, especially old home places; organize them with the photographs of the people who lived there.
- Organize the pictures from the oldest to the newest members of the family, including birth and death dates if known and the town, county, and state they resided in.
- Use an album program, such as Adobe Photoshop Album, to create and organize your database of images, as shown in Figure 1.
- Try to include pictures of each family member at different ages.
Keep this list in your computer so you can note which pictures you received from various people. Include names and contact information on the list, as well as their relationship to the family line being researched.
Include the following information and requests in your letter:
Introduce yourself if the relative is distant and you're not well acquainted.
Try to obtain scanned photos. If the owner of the pictures has the ability to scan the photos, or is willing to have a photo CD made at the appropriate resolution, this saves mailing precious original photos back and forth.
Give instructions identifying the pictures. Ask them to include the owner's name, and the name, location, and date of the subject (if known). The photos should be numbered with a soft pencil on the back, and the corresponding information sent on a separate sheet or floppy disk.
Ask for background information. If there is any story or additional information about the occasion of the photo or the people and places it depicts, ask for that information as well.
Request a response regarding the number of photos the owners are sending prior to actually mailing them. This information is important in planning postage and packaging for the next step.
When you know how many and what size pictures you are receiving from someone, send them a large, self-addressed padded mailer specifically for photos (marked "Photos, Do Not Bend") with enough postage for the photos. If someone is sending a box full, you can send them the postage in advance.
Include printouts of the identifying information for each photo for quick reference. Use acid-free paper dividers and boxes to protect the photos. The best containers are archival photo boxes, but you may use portfolios or other types of containers that are roomy enough for the photos. Avoid crowding, and make sure the photos are protected from scratching, and from contact with plastic or nonacid free surfaces.
Use a separate box for the photos of each contributor, so no one squabbles at the end over whose photos are whose!
If you can't locate photos of old family homes, find out if they still exist and make arrangements to photograph them.
This makes genealogical research much easier.
 | Don't write on the original photographs, with the exception of small, soft identifying numbers on the back! If you make prints of the scanned images, you can write on them with a soft pencil. |
For example, include a picture of your grandmother as a young girl, as a young mother, and as you know her today. Or show dad and uncles as young men. Children especially love seeing their relatives dressed in the clothes of "the olden days."
Figure 1: Adobe Photoshop Album
Putting it all together
- Scan your family photographs into your computer.
- With your folder of images open in Adobe Photoshop Album, select the images you wish to add to a gallery.
- Choose Creations --> Album from the tool menu at the top of your screen.
- Select the album style you wish to create and click Next.
- Type the information you wish to appear on the title and subsequent pages; then click Next.
- Select the photos you wish to include in your album by selecting the photos in the Pick Your Photos window, as shown in Figure 2; then click Next.
- Review the album by clicking Full Screen Preview; when you're satisfied with your choices, click Next.
- Click the Save as PDF button and follow the directions to create an Adobe Acrobat Reader eBook or PDF file of your album.
- After you publish your Album, click the Done button.
Be very careful scanning old photographs, particularly if they're in old cardboard folders. If you can safely remove the photos from the folders, then do so.
 | Once you scan the pictures, return them to their owners – a good thing to do, because people are very anxious about their photographs! |
The Album Creation Wizard opens.
This is a good choice for a basic database.
Figure 2: Select your photos
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